By HorseracingFLA Staff
(Editor’s Note: This is the first of several stories that will be based in part on a recent interview with Gulfstream Park general manager P.J. Campo)
Thursday, July 23 — Gulfstream Park will have nine races this afternoon, with a new first post time of 1:15 p.m.
There are no stakes races on today’s card. It will be the 13th day of Gulfstream’s 2015 summer meet and the start of the meet’s fourth four-day race week (Thursday through Sunday). The meet began July 1 and will end on Oct. 3.
Thus far wagering totals have been higher than in the 2014 summer meet and the average field size has been similar to last summer’s high levels, according to data provided by Gulfstream general manager P.J. Campo and our follow-up review of Equibase Co, charts.
The data from Gulfstream show that average daily all-sources handle grew 12 percent meet-to-date for the first eight race days in July. That increase was from approximately $5.0 million in 2014 to about $5.6 million this year.
The average field size for the eight-day periods fell from 9.1 in 2014 to a still-strong 8.7 this year.
Those numbers are through July 13, 2014 and July 12 2015. This year’s total includes $8.1 million for the Summit of Speed, with nine stakes races on July 5. That event was not run last year, after being run at Calder Casino & Race Course from 2000 through 2013.
Our review of Equibase charts shows that Gulfstream averaged $4.2 million per day in all-sources handle for the recent four days between Thursday July 16 and Sunday July 19. The average field size was 9.3 for those four days.
That brought the average for daily all-sources handle to $5.2 million and the average field size to 9.0 horses for the first 12 days of this year’s summer meet. Comparable data for the first 12 days of Gulfstream’s 2014 summer meet is not yet readily available.
* There is a $19,606 carryover today on the Rainbow 6 on the last six races, four through nine. The races have 57 entrants, making it another large-field day with the prospect that there will not be a single “jackpot” winning ticket and thus rolling the carryover into the start of the weekend.
* On Saturday, Gulfstream will have two $75,000 stakes races. The Bear’s Den is 1 1/16 miles on turf for 3-yer-olds. The Monroe is one mile on dirt for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up
